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INDEX.

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which they would blush to pay any regard to on less serious occasions, 841, 842

Those who share in the actual exercise of public power, are not allowed to sit down in inaction, 842

Tractableness of the people during public calamities, and its heedlessness in times of prosperity, are equally taken advantage of, 842

Resolutions adopted at an assembly of the people, are nothing more than the effect of the artifices of a few designing men, 843

Evils of republican governments, 844

There is no proposal, however absurd, to which a numerous assembly of
men may not, at one time or other, be brought to assent, 845
Advantages that accrue to the People from appointing Representatives,
CHAPTER VI., 845-847

A small number of persons can deliberate on every occurrence, and never
come to any resolutions but such as are maturely weighed, 845

Those who govern being few in number, have a deeper interest in the success of their enterprises, 846

A representative body will assert the rights of which they have been made the guardians, with all that warmth which the esprit de corps is used to inspire, 846

Representatives of the people will naturally be selected from among those citizens who are most favoured by fortune, 847

Advantages that accrue to the People from their appointing Representatives are very inconsiderable, unless they also entirely trust their Legislative Authority to them, CHAPTER VII., 848-851

The people in popular governments have never themselves remedied the disadvantages attending their situation, 848

But they have always availed themselves of short intervals of superiority, in order to acquire power, 848, 849

The Romans never allowed their tribunes to conclude anything defini-
tively, 849

Political artifices of the senators,'
," "consuls," and "dictators," 849
Principles under which the Roman "consuls
" and "dictators" were

appointed, 850

Popular assemblies are attended by tumult and confusion, 851

Effects that have resulted in the English Government, from the People's
Power being completely delegated to their Representatives, CHAPTER
VIII., 852-855

Advantages arise, when the people have entirely trusted their power to
a moderate number of persons, 852

Representatives of the people have acquired every power to make their resolutions the result of reflection and deliberation, 853

The people, by acting only through their representatives, become the moving springs of the legislative authority, 854

The boasted power of the people, sometimes rendered completely illusory, 855

A representative constitution places the remedy in the hands of those who feel the disorder,-a popular constitution in the hands of those who cause it, 855

Disadvantage of Republican Governments; the People are necessarily betrayed by those in whom they trust, CHAPTER IX., 856

It is impossible for the people ever to have faithful defenders under republican governments, 856

The only end which the tribunes pursued with sincerity, was to procure for themselves an admission to all public dignities, 857

Powers of the Roman people were not employed in things really beneficial to themselves, 857

Judicial power at Rome, was a mere instrument of tyranny, 857

At Rome, the power of life and death was annexed to every kind of authority, 858

Treachery of the tribunes exemplified, by their permitting the senate to invest itself with the powers of taxation, 858

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The consequence of communicability of power in republican govern-
ments is, that it cannot be restrained, 859

Republican governments are opposed to civil liberty, 860
Ambitious principles which influence all parties, 860

Precautions ought to be taken against all those who can influence the
execution of the laws, 861

Fundamental Difference between the English Government and the Govern-
ments just described. In England, all Executive Authority is placed

out of the hands of those in whom the People trust. Usefulness of the
Power of the Crown, CHAPTER X., 862-867

Mode in which all executive authority is taken from those, to whom the
legislative authority has been confided, 862

Securities for the preservation of the kingly prerogative, 863

Power of conferring and withdrawing places and employments, 863

A share in the legislative power, 863

The crown is the only permanent power in the state, 863

The legislature cannot invest itself with the executive, 864

In England, the cause of the people is not continually deserted and
betrayed, 864

All persons are interested in confining the executive to its proper boun-
daries, 865

The minister is equally interested with his fellow-citizen in maintaining
the laws on which public liberty is founded, 865

The commoner and peer are compelled to wish only for equitable laws,
and to observe them with exactness, 866

The arm of justice equally brings to account, as well the most powerful
as the meanest offender, 866

It is the throne which makes the people sure that its representatives
never will be anything more than its representatives, 867

The Power which the People themselves exercise, the Election of Mem-
bers of Parliament, CHAPTER XI., 867, 868

Precautionary measures against the corruption of the representative
power, 867

Duties of representatives are to prevent an arbitrary government, and
to procure the best administration of the laws, 868

Discretionary power vested in the people in the re-election of their
representatives, 868

The same Subject continued. Liberty of the Press, CHAPTER XII.,
869-878

Political evils arise from the defects, and also from the non-execution of
laws, 869

The end of legislation is to adopt that which is most conducive to the
public good, and not the particular intentions of individuals, 869
The people have the province of canvassing and arraigning the conduct
of those, who are invested with any branch of public authority, 870
Every subject has a right to lay his complaints and observations before
the public by means of an open press, 871

Despotic restraints upon the press, by the court of Star Chamber, 871
Freedom of the press was established in 1694, p. 872

Liberty of the press, in what it consists, 872

The sole office of the judge, is to declare the punishment established by
law, 873

The jury are the sole masters of their verdict, 874

The extreme security with which every man is enabled to communicate
his sentiments, has multiplied public newspapers, 874

From the circulation of newspapers, every individual becomes acquainted
with the state of the nation, and the three kingdoms seem as if they
were one single town, 875

Notoriety of all things constitutes a check on those who enjoy public
authority, 876

Any subject in which the public welfare is concerned, excites unre-
served observations and complaints, 876

INDEX.

INDEX.

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Those persons whose greatness seems to set them above the reach of public censure, are not those who least feel its effects, 877

The laws give a full scope to the people for the expression of their complaints, 878

Freedom of the press induces the spirit of liberty, 878

The Subject continued, CHAPTER XIII., 879–884

It is not fortune, it is nature, that has made the essential differences between men, 879

Constitutional advantages of the press, 879

Through the assistance of the press, all matters of fact are at length clear; and through the conflict of answers and replies, nothing remains but the sound part of the arguments, 880

The press serves as a check upon parliament, 881

Modes in which the people express their censure upon parliamentary proceedings, 881

The candidate who gives the best entertainment to a certain class of
parliamentary electors, has the greatest chance to get the better of his
competitors, 882

Unsuccessful attempts of the Stuarts to tyrannize over the people, 883
Complaints of the people, if adhered to, must be ultimately redressed, 884
Right of Resistance, CHAPTER XIV., 885-891

Resistance is the ultimate and lawful resource against the violences of
power, 885

The throne of England declared vacant, because the king had violated the fundamental laws, 886

Courts of law have grounded their judgments on the right of resistance, 887

Right of resistance, displays the advantages of a free press, 888

The cause of each individual is really the cause of all, and to attack the lowest among the people, is to attack the whole people, 888

When the people are often called to act in their own persons, it is impossible for them to acquire any exact knowledge of the state of things, 889

It is a contradiction, that the people should act, and at the same time retain any real power, 889

When the springs of government are placed out of the body of the people, their action is thereby disengaged from all that can render it complicated, 890

If those who are entrusted with the active part of government, were to
attempt the subversion of liberty, their ruin would be the result, 890
The body of the people should not interpose, but to influence, to be able
to act, and not to act, 891

Proofs drawn from Facts of the Truth of the Principles laid down in
the present Work.-1. The peculiar manner in which Revolutions
have always been concluded in England, CHAPTER XV., 891–904
Peculiarities attendant upon the revolutions in England, 891
Revolutions have terminated by extensive and accurate provisions for

securing the general liberty, 892

Oppressive nature of the Roman laws respecting debtors, 893

Limitations on the authority of the consuls, 894

Lex Terentilla, 895

The Twelve Tables, 895

The decemvirs, 896

Restoration of the republican dignities, and with them the office of tribune, 896

Public commotions always end in promoting the power of the few, 897 Tribunes aspire to those offices of executive power, which they were intended to control, and not to share, 897

Tribunes excited seditions, in order to overcome the opposition of the senate, 898

Tribunes made capable of exercising the executive power, and public trust, 898, 899

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Those men upon whom the Roman people had bestowed dignities, united
with the utmost vehemence against them, 899
Republics of Syracuse, Corcyra, and Florence, 899

Compacts for liberty made by the English, at the termination of national
struggles, were such as all orders of the people could essentially
enjoy, 900

Magna Charta and reigns of Henry III., Edward I., II., III.,
Richard II., Henry IV., 900, 901

The commons formed an assembly in which every one could propose
what matters he pleased, and freely discuss them, 902
Contests between the Houses of York and Lancaster, 902

Reigns of Charles I. and II., James II., 903

A revolution terminated by a series of public acts, in which no interests
but those of the people at large were considered and provided for,
903, 904

Second Difference :-The manner after which the Laws for the Liberty of
the Subject are executed in England, CHAPTER XVI., 904-931
English subjects enjoy no less liberty from the justness and mildness of
their government, than from the accuracy of the laws themselves, 904
Enactments respecting liberty, were by the Roman governors openly
disregarded in practice, 905

The lives of Roman citizens were subjected on slight grounds to be
taken away, 906

The magistrates of the republic rendered the appeal to the people essen-
tially useless, 906, 907

Lex Portia, et Lex Sempronia, 907, 908

Roman magistrates not only committed acts of injustice, but were guilty
of avarice and private rapine, 908

Lex Calpurnia de repetundis et Lex Junia, 908

Levity and infamy of the Roman public judgments, 909

Impunity of corrupt judges, 909

Roman laws and public judgments became the engines of oppression, 910
The social war, 910

Disorders in the Roman government, arose from its inherent imperfec-
tions, 911

English government, not affected with imperfections similar to those of
Rome, 913

Trial by jury secures the subject against all the attempts of power, 913
Law of Scotland relative to trial by jury (Note 3), 913

Property of every individual has been secured from the executive
power, 914

Representatives of the people have converted the right of taxation into
a regular and constitutional mean of influencing the executive, 914
Representative power, able and willing to protect national rights, 915
Attempts by Charles I. to produce the ruin of public liberty, 915
Duties of the crown, are to countenance and support with its strength,
the execution of the laws, 915

Oppression of an obscure individual, gave rise to the Habeas Corpus
Act, 916

Corruption of the judges under Edward I., Richard II., Henry VIII.,
James I., Charles I., and Charles II., 916-919

The sovereign, for having personally violated the safety of the subject,
received severe censure, 919

Limitations on the executive power, greater in England than in any
other government, 919, 920

Spirit of mutual justice everywhere diffused, 920, 921

The commons have been careful not to assume any distinction which
might alienate from them the affections of the people, 921, 922

Cases in which the commons have punished their members for corrupt
conduct, 922, 923

Speaker of the commons punished for taking money towards his private
emolument, 922, 923

INDEX.

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The lords do not permit their privileges to evade common justice, 923 The lords have exercised their judicial authority with impartiality, even in the trial of their own members, 924

Judges have been severely punished, when they have rendered themselves the instruments of the passions of their sovereign, 925 Impartiality in the administration of justice, 925

Any violation of the laws, even by the first servants of the crown, is publicly redressed, 926

The citizens who were at the head of the Roman republic, assumed to themselves a great degree of cruelty, 928

A spirit of irregularity and cruelty prevailed among the Greeks in the infliction of punishment, 929

Punishment of torture adopted in Greece, 929

England is freed from those abuses, which are most oppressive in other countries, 930

Punishment of torture strenuously opposed and defeated in England,
930

No cruel and unusual punishments can be enforced, 931
Justice is executed with mercy, 931

Very essential Differences between the English Monarchy, as a Monarchy,
and all those with which we are acquainted, CHAPTER XVII.,
932-987

Liberty enjoyed by the English, is caused by the impossibility of any body transferring to itself the executive, 932

Manner in which the constitutions of Greece, Italy, and Rome were destroyed, 933

The nobles of Sweden, Denmark, and Poland, reduced their sovereigns
to a president over their assemblies, 933

Disloyalty of the nobles of Germany, France, Scotland, Spain, and
Italy, 933

Crown of England derives no support from the regular forces, 934

King of England can, without the assistance of an army, avoid those dangers to which other sovereigns are exposed, 935

Liberty which the English enjoy, is the result of the peculiar frame of their government, 936

Foundations of the English constitution are different from those on which the same power rests in other countries, 937

Houses of Lords and Commons, have by turns, defeated the attacks of
each other upon its prerogative, 937

The commons prevented from tacking money-bills to other bills, 938
The commons attempt to exclude from the crown its presumptive heir,

938

The lords pass a bill for annual parliaments, 939

Attempts to limit the prerogative of the crown in the creation of
peers, 939

Place bills have always miscarried in the House of Lords, 940
Houses of Lords and Commons resemble those positive and negative
equal quantities, which destroy each other on the opposite sides of an
equation, 940

Prerogatives of the crown were undiminished during the minorities of
Richard II., Henry VI., and Edward VI., 940

Constitution of Sweden bears the greatest outward resemblance to that
of England, 941

The Revolution of 1689, p. 942

No attempt to transfer the executive power from the crown, 943

The crown rarely exercises the prerogative of negation, 944

Two Houses of Parliament do not possess an independent legislative authority, 944

Stat. 16 Charles II. c. 1, repealed, 945

Parliaments of England preserved national liberty, by rejecting the executive authority, and vesting it in a single person, 945

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